As the coronavirus pandemic continues its march across California, the number of cases in the state swelled to 10,000 Thursday — with the death toll topping 200.
Amid the surge, officials are continuing to urge the public to carry on with unprecedented social distancing measures while also rushing to get more supplies to hospitals amid a rise in sick patients.
The rapid spread of the virus brought new concerns about whether the state’s healthcare system can handle the inflow of patients. Many California hospitals and local medical centers are grappling with shortages of supplies amid a scramble to prepare for what is expected to be a deluge of patients in the coming weeks.
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Los Angeles County public health officials on Wednesday reiterated their pleas for Angelenos to stay at home as much as possible in an effort to stem the virus’ spread and give hospitals a chance to treat the ill without becoming overwhelmed.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti went as far as advising the Department of Water and Power to shut off utilities to nonessential businesses violating the city’s order to close amid the pandemic.
“Slowing the spread of this virus and flattening the curve on new infections demands that we all do our part, and that’s the bottom line,” Garcetti said. “Yet still some nonessential businesses continue to operate, putting everybody at risk.”
Such appeals come amid a dramatic increase of cases in the region.
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Los Angeles County officials reported more than 500 new cases Wednesday, bringing the number of people infected in the county to 3,518. Sixty-five people in the county have died of the virus.
“I want to reassure the public that the L.A. County hospital system, both public and private, is doing everything it can to be able to scale up and meet the projected demand, but I would reiterate the crucial importance of respecting those social and physical distancing guidelines so that we can flatten the curve and make sure there’s not excessive strain on the hospital system in the days and weeks to come,” Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the Los Angeles Department of Health Services, said Wednesday.
Orange County saw its biggest single-day increase in coronavirus infections Wednesday, as officials announced 107 new cases and three additional deaths. In all, 606 COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths have been confirmed countywide.
Amid the news, state officials announced they will use the Fairview Developmental Center — a state-owned property in Costa Mesa — as an alternative care site to relieve stress on other regional hospitals. Repurposing the center, which long housed adults with developmental and behavioral disabilities, is part of an overall effort to boost the number of hospital beds available statewide.
The facility will provide up to 1,100 new hospital beds that should be available this month, according to Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach).
“Around the world and in other states, we have seen the horrific images and heard the heartbreaking stories of COVID-19 patients dying in hospital corridors because there are not enough beds,” she said in a statement. “We are aggressively preparing for California’s surge to try to avoid that nightmare.”
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Santa Barbara County recorded its first death from the virus Wednesday. The person was in their 60s and had underlying health conditions, according to public health officials. Meanwhile, Tehama County in Northern California announced its first case of the virus.
As bad as the numbers are, health officials warned it could get much worse if Californians don’t adhere to the stay-at-home orders, which now could last well into May.
California faces 5,000 coronavirus deaths a week if the state’s stay-at-home policies are relaxed too early, according to one Bay Area health officer.
“Some of the modeling is predicting — at the peak — up to 5,000 deaths a week throughout California,” Dr. Chris Farnitano, health officer for Contra Costa County, told his Board of Supervisors. That would mean 600 deaths a week from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in the central Bay Area and 100 to 200 deaths a week in Contra Costa County, he said.
“We are still hopeful we can avoid [this scenario] if we don’t relax our efforts to flatten the curve,” said Farnitano, who shared the possible epidemic outcomes on the same day that six Bay Area counties extended and strengthened the nation’s first coronavirus shelter-in-place order.
Health officials across the state have begun revealing estimates of potential coronavirus death tolls. There could be 2,000 to 14,000 deaths in Contra Costa County, and perhaps 1,000 deaths in Ventura County, health officers for both counties said.
Last week, the city of San Jose released an estimate saying there could be 2,000 to 16,000 coronavirus deaths in Santa Clara County.
Dr. Robert Levin, health officer for Ventura County, said the number of coronavirus cases coming into hospitals could be like a tsunami. In the last 21 years he’s been tracking the data, the worst year for flu deaths came two years ago, with 49 fatalities — a small fraction of the 1,000 deaths the coronavirus could bring to Ventura County.
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“This is not influenza. This is much more serious,” Levin said at a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.
Some officials have begun recommending that people wear face coverings when going out in public. However, Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, cautioned against using N95 and surgical masks, which are already in short supply for healthcare providers.
She said people could use a bandanna or piece of fabric to cover their nose and mouth while out in public doing essential errands, but she warned: “Wearing a mask is not a shield.” It does not replace frequent hand washing and social distancing efforts.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he had been awaiting advice on masks from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but with the COVID-19 rate surging, he decided to wait no longer on weighing in on the mask debate.
He said everyone performing essential tasks outside the home such as food shopping should wear homemade, nonmedical face coverings, or even bandannas, as people in other countries have done.
“To be clear, you should still stay at home. This isn’t an excuse to suddenly all go out,” Garcetti said.
Times staff writer Joseph Serna contributed to this report.
